Today's Stichomancy for Neil Gaiman

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln:

face to face, and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides, an no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you.

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum:

embroidered with silver, and put a blue-and-gold suit of satin upon little Button-Bright, who looked as sweet as a cherub in it. Followed by the boy and Toto--the dog with a new green ribbon around his neck--she hastened down to the splendid drawing-room of the palace, where, seated upon an exquisite throne of carved malachite and nestled amongst its green satin cushions was the lovely Princess Ozma, waiting eagerly to welcome her friend.

20. Princess Ozma Of Oz

The royal historians of Oz, who are fine writers and know any number of big words, have often tried to describe the rare beauty of Ozma and failed because the words were not good enough. So of course I cannot

The Road to Oz

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Treatise on Parents and Children by George Bernard Shaw:

faculties; but many people seem to have bitter recollections of being forced reluctantly to acquire them. And though I have the uttermost contempt for a teacher so ill mannered and incompetent as to be unable to make a child learn to read and write without also making it cry, still I am prepared to admit that I had rather have been compelled to learn to read and write with tears by an incompetent and ill mannered person than left in ignorance. Reading, writing, and enough arithmetic to use money honestly and accurately, together with the rudiments of law and order, become necessary conditions of a child's liberty before it can appreciate the importance of its liberty, or foresee that these accomplishments are worth acquiring. Nature has

The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Tanach:

Job 37: 22 Out of the north cometh golden splendour, about God is terrible majesty.

Job 37: 23 The Almighty, whom we cannot find out, is excellent in power, yet to judgment and plenteous justice He doeth no violence.

Job 37: 24 Men do therefore fear Him; He regardeth not any that are wise of heart.

Job 38: 1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:

Job 38: 2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

Job 38: 3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto Me.

Job 38: 4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast the understanding.

Job 38: 5 Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who stretched the line upon it?

Job 38: 6 Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the corner-stone thereof,

Job 38: 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Job 38: 8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth, and issued out of the womb;

The Tanach